PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Junior explorer Walkabout Resources was hoping to complete a prefeasibility study on its seven-billion-ton Takatokwane thermal coal project, in Botswana, by the fourth quarter of this year.

Walkabout MD Allan Mulligan told Mining Weekly Online that the company was investigating a staged development of Takatokwane, which would see an initial Phase 1 underground operation deliver some one-million tons a year.

“The start-up mine would feed into two markets, namely the export market through the Richard’s Bay Coal Terminal, and the South African market, where appropriate.”

If all goes to plan, first production could likely take place by the end of 2014, Mulligan said.

The second phase of the operation would be a larger opencut strip mine, producing some 20-million tons a year. The thermal coal produced from the larger mine would be exported either through Namibia or Mozambique.

Despite the obvious size of the project, Mulligan noted that the project was hampered by infrastructure constraints.

“Stage 2 development would be dependent on a rail announcement, which we think is imminent, but its ultimately not up to us,” he said.

Walkabout, previously known as Nimrodel Resources, holds a 67% interest in the Takatokwane project, under two separate joint venture (JV) agreements. However, Mulligan noted that as the target mining area straddles both the JVs, the company would homogenise the operations, treating them as one.

Meanwhile, Walkabout’s exploration focus was also on its Kigoma copper project, in Tanzania, which Mulligan believed could be a potentially large-scale operation.

The Kigoma project is held through a patchwork of partnerships with local businesses and individuals, and Mulligan noted that Walkabout would now look to apply modern exploration techniques to the area.

“There are two projects evolving here. One is an oxide copper project, which we hope to start drilling by the end of May, and the second is a much wider sulphide-type deposit, which is much larger in scale.”

Mulligan said that Walkabout would spend between A$500 000 and A$600 000 on drilling the Kigoma project during this year, but based on the success of this exploration work, further drilling could be accelerated.